


awake & asleep

by azhawritesreylo



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending, One Shot, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Redeemed Ben Solo, Resurrection, Rey Needs A Hug, Romance, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24103525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azhawritesreylo/pseuds/azhawritesreylo
Summary: "Please tell me you're real."After Exegol, Rey has the strongest feeling that she should go to Naboo.Ben, trapped in the World Between Worlds, meets a young woman who helps him find his way back.Padme, angry at the Jedi, guides him home through the love and the dyad he shares with Rey.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	awake & asleep

**Author's Note:**

> ## On the edge of a dream  
>  Two souls meet  
>  in the place between
> 
> # Song: Awake, Asleep by MissThis

#### What did he remember last?

Her lips. Those eyes.

Her smile.

Something solid kept him here, in this plane, and Ben wanted to believe it was her. She held him captive in a place between life and death. He is not meant to pass on. Not yet. Not when they’ve only found each other. 

He wouldn’t leave her alone now.

There was a path and all he had to do was follow. So he walked. In this hollow darkness, he walked, guided by a muffled voice going on repeat;

“Be with me.” 

He would know it anywhere. It was her voice, beckoning him to come to her—to _come back._

“Be with me.”

How long had he been walking? He doesn’t know. But there was an end to this. It didn’t matter how much time passes for him so long as he gets back to the girl with the sunny smile; the girl he hoped would not lose her faith in him to return.

One step echoed off the walls. The darkness clears. When he looked around, Ben found himself in a cavern built on bluish-gray walls. A shadow beside him appears and he recognizes him instantly.

The figure doesn’t move nor does it look towards him, but when Ben moved so did he. It was a reflection of his youth. Young Ben Solo was smaller and slimmer, but the most notable difference between his memories as a kid and this—whatever _this_ is—was the lack of burden in his stance or his eyes. 

Funny. He had always felt haunted, causing restless nights and dark circles under his eyes. But this _child_ , he realized, was someone who no longer carried such weight. He was free.

He can only wish the same for himself now.

“Show me,” a voice says. 

_Her voice_ , he thought. _Always her voice._

Ben looked ahead. He sees a figure behind the wall and comes toward it very slowly, his mirror self following his lead alongside him. The closer he got, the more certain he was that it was Rey calling out to him. 

Did she find a way out? Was she here?

Her hand stretches towards him, laid steadily on the wall, and he does the same. The child is gone. It was just him reaching out for her. The vision clears and he can see her face filled with anguish for just a brief moment before she falls on her knees. How he wanted to get to her, to comfort her...to tell her that she wasn’t alone. And then he remembers.

He already has. This was the night they touched. Rey wasn’t here now. She hasn’t found him. It saddened him greatly, but it also made him relieved. To see her so distraught was agonizing, but Ben knows that he did what he could that night—to make her feel less alone in this vast universe. If only he can feel that way now...

The vision blurs and then, it fades, along with his hope. 

He kneels, broken and anguished. For the first time in his entire life, he believed he was close to finding the light at the end of this tunnel. But just like that, it got snatched away. How is he ever going to come back to Rey?

“I was so close,” he murmured to himself, the tears now streaming down his face. The sound of his sobs echoed, only making it harder for him to stop. 

Suddenly, a light sparkled in the corner of his eye. He turns toward it, blinding him momentarily. Ben looks up to another vision. This time, the cavern inside was filled with blue butterflies. Half expecting to be his reflection alone in the walls, imagine his surprise when a woman with dark curly hair in an immaculate glow stood behind him.

“Come, child,” she says.

Her voice sounded far away despite being a few feet behind him. 

As Ben whirls around, the woman isn’t there. But he turns back to the wall and it tells him otherwise. She’s here. There was just a question of _when._

“Come,” she repeats and moves towards a dark tunnel. Her gown flows behind her like water, shimmering from the light within her. “Don’t be afraid,” she tells him, already halfway through the shadows.

“Wait!” Ben chases after her.

The tunnel was short, opening up to a cove. This time, the woman wasn’t the only source of light. She materialized in front of him, no longer in the walls of this strange dream. 

Ben had never met her before but there was something eerily familiar about her. There was a fire in her eyes, a warmth, as well as gentleness. She reminded him of his mother. The woman stretches out her arms to him, beckoning him over and he gravitated towards her like a moth. As soon as he was within her grasp, he was overwhelmed with comfort and kindness.

“You were lost for a long time,” she tells him quietly. “May you never be lost again.”

“Who are you?”

He could feel a smile spread on her lips before he’s even seen it. “You know in your heart who I am. And now I will show you the way.”

“Show me where?” He asks, fearing the hope that blooms in his chest.

“Home.”

  
  


#### Rey walked on the luscious green grass, the sun in her trails.

The sound of running water calmed her greatly and the winds generously wrapped their arms around her. She hadn’t been here long but over the last couple of weeks after the war ended, her dreams were filled with nothing but the views of Naboo. 

If she hadn’t been born without being Force-sensitive, she would’ve grown up here. She’d spent days learning about her family history, her bloodline, but soon she only felt dread for something she will never have. Still, it was nice to be somewhere teeming with life. The abundance here overwhelmed her senses. She could forget, she knew—even just for a moment—everything she ever lost. 

Something about this planet, besides a past she hadn’t lived, kept pulling at her. Today she felt it go stronger. Rey was waiting. But for what, she wasn’t certain.

Then she felt it, that strange tug. 

She whirled around and found Master Luke standing behind her. 

“Master?”

He smiles, but something in his gaze made him look nervous. “Hey there, kid.”

“Young Jedi,” another master, she assumes to be Yoda, appears beside him. He was a weird-looking fellow but the wisdom crawled on his skin so visibly that Rey couldn’t say anything other than ‘Master’ in response. 

Several other ghosts popped up in the clearing, their voices familiar to her now. The masters were called here for a reason. They’ve never shown themselves before.

“What’s going on?” She asks Luke.

He sighs, staring ahead. “Something rare,” he says, looking at her. “Something that transcends time and space...and reason.”

Rey turns as a gust of wind nearly throws her off. It was loud and angry, and then, it was gone. Luke sighs again, more heavily this time, and chuckles to himself.

“That’s what I get,” he mutters to himself. “Do me a favor, kid.”

Rey only stared at him, bewildered. 

“Don’t ever do anything that could anger the spirit of Padmé Amidala.”

“Go, you must,” Master Yoda commands. “He awaits.”

They disappear, one by one, but Rey doesn’t stay. She breaks into a run, coming down the hill and towards the lake. She didn’t need to know who it was Master Yoda was referring to. She can feel it in her bones, the same gripping energy that consumed her in Exegol. 

Her feet carried her as fast as they could. She tried not to stumble or to fall. Rey could barely catch her breath as she hit the shores, her ankles quickly submerged in cold waters. She looked on, waiting. Searching. 

The pounding in her chest nearly suffocated her.

But there was nothing. The pull was gone and it took everything in her to keep standing. Finally, after some time, she lets go of the breath she’d been holding and walks back to the clearing. Rey tried not to cry, knowing she’d been asking for the impossible. 

_It just doesn’t make sense_ , she tells herself. 

Something fluttered near her, catching her attention. She smiles, recognizing the small creature to be a butterfly. Its blue wings flapped heartily beside her, accompanying her on her journey. As she turns ahead again, she sees hundreds of them flying with her, all the shade of the same blue. Like her, they were heading towards something. And then at the edge of her vision, a figure stood.

Butterflies unveiled Ben Solo piece by piece as if they were personally delivering him to her. Rey halts for a moment, unable to move. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly’s wings. When she could see him wholly there, with everything in place, she couldn’t do anything but run towards him. His arms were already open, catching her fast as she collided with him. Breathless, she held onto him and he clung to her. 

Rey pulled away, just for a little bit, to see his eyes. 

Yes, they were the same. He looked at her with yearning and hope and _love_ , just as he did when he gave up his life to bring her back. He was here. Finally, he was here.

“Please tell me you’re real,” she prayed. 

She touched his lips carefully and he broke into a familiar smile. Tears began to stream down his face and she wipes at them, but her vision was getting blurry from her tears as well. Rey holds his face just as she did before and kisses him. His arms held her in place that her feet no longer touched the ground. There was a fear in her that this was all just a beautiful dream, but either way, she hoped never to wake up. 

“I promised,” he says against her lips as they catch their breath. “I promised I’ll come back for you, sweetheart.”

Rey lets out a sob before wrapping her arms around his neck, embracing her future and the life that awaits them both.

**Author's Note:**

> # This was short because I was fueled up with all these emotions after reading this prompt and I just want them to be back together. ALSO: I didn’t realize it before but an image popped up on my TL and Naboo in this scene is Yosemite National Park (??) in my head. Weird. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little fic!  
>  P.S. If you haven't checked out MissThis, you better!   
>  Their songs can't scream REYLO any louder ;)


End file.
